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The myth is often a popular explanation of actual physical conditions which make sense in regards to the lifestyle, the materials available, the need for safety and the comfort level.
One examples on this is the Toraja houses or "Tonkonan" or the rice barns with the same shape "Alana" and the funeral structures "Sarinan" It is believed that the spirits will enter into the houses from the one end of the building and leaving out again at the other end.
The older traditional houses are almost always placed in the predominant direction of the wind, which is South-North. And sometimes following the direction of the landscape features, which can be a valley, a river or a mountain chain this funnels the wind in a certain direction.
The overhang at the gables of the buildings are exaggerated and seemingly servers no purpose beside being a decorative feature. However, I believe that they are formed in such a way that they capture the wind, leading it into a huge open space between the ceiling and the roof, hence creating a strong draft in the full length of the building, which will create a draft inside the building transporting the hot air away.
The overhang is not only reaching out catching the wind by its size but also the form which is concave catching the wind even more efficiently.
The older houses had a straight ridge between the top of the overhangs, but through time, this ridge became more and more curbed, and now resembling the horns of a bull. The bull, is the main feature in the mythology and the focus for worship. However, I believe that the reality is that it is more a likeness to a ship, which again is a symbol of travelling and transport, the spirits are traveling, the wind is traveling, the bull is a static figure, not going anywhere.
The Toraja houses are just one examples on the correlation between the mythical stories and the physical design of the house, there are many more types of houses which will be investigated in this study. Such as the traditional houses on the Indonesian island of Sumba, the houses, in the top of 20 high trees used by the Korowai and Kombai tribes in West Papua, and the strange oversize igloo structures built by the Wae Rabo on the Island of Flores.